Associated Student Body President Jack Jones delivered his State of the ASB Address to the ASB Senate on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at the formal senate meeting in the Gertrude C. Ford Ole Miss Student Union. Jones highlighted accomplishments from the past year and projects in progress — including a students-only ticket exchange platform and a collaboration between the University of Mississippi and rideshare service Uber.
Jones addressed ASB’s work with Ole Miss Athletics to bring more student accommodations to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, progress being made on campus mental health and wellness initiatives and ASB’s work with the university after Student Activity Fee funds were frozen by the university following the passage of State House Bill 1193 last year.
“Last spring, our team, in conjunction with Vice President (Walker) Jacklin, met with Ole Miss Athletics to advocate for improvements at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. I’m proud to say those conversations resulted in discounting concessions, misting stations and affordable chargers in the student section,” Jones said. “Just today, I received a call informing me that athletics is working with their ticket sales partners to develop a ticket marketplace exclusively for our students.”
Jones used his speech to emphasize that the ASB Senate has made positive improvements and to encourage senators to keep up their work as advocates for the university students.
“Our organization serves almost 29,000 people with unique stories, unique experiences and unique challenges. In times like these, student advocacy efforts have never been more important. ASB’s executive officers were well aware of the challenges before us when we began this journey together last spring. We committed ourselves to advancing the student experience in every possible way,” Jones said. “While we do, there will be wins, and there will be missteps.”
Jones also highlighted an ongoing project between the university and Uber to bring a rideshare program specifically to university students.
“We’ve been hard at work over the past several years with parking and transportation in order to get that done. That’s been a policy and an initiative that has continued from one administration to the next. I think we’re very close,” Jones said in an interview with The Daily Mississippian. “It’s in the contractual management phase, trying to make sure that Uber and the University of Mississippi can agree on language. … I think that’s something that we’re going to be able to get done very soon.”
After Jones’ speech, the ASB Senate went on to confirm cabinet and departmental nominations and fill two open senate seats.
Riley Mickelson was confirmed as the secretary of ASB, after acting as interim secretary for a short time. Also in the secretary’s department, Ella Berg was confirmed as the deputy secretary of external affairs, and Olivia McArdle was confirmed as the director of programming.
In the president’s cabinet, Luke Habeeb, who previously served as the vice president’s chief of staff, was confirmed as the president’s chief of staff; Sophie Kahle was confirmed as the principal of external affairs; Marlee Cleveland was confirmed as the principal of accessibility; and Keliah White was confirmed as the deputy principal of inclusion and cross-cultural engagement.
Former ASB President Sara Austin Welch, who is enrolled in a graduate program at the university, was confirmed as senior adviser to the president.
In the legislative council, Riley Littleton was confirmed as the vice president’s chief of staff.
In the department of justice, Sneha Vuyyuru was confirmed as deputy attorney general of code and constitution. Jack Kimrey and Grace Stucky were confirmed as elections commissioners. All nominees were confirmed by unanimous vote.
Filling the two vacant senate seats, Hannah Oommen, a freshman biomedical engineering major, was elected as an ASB Senator for the committee of academics, and Nate Millen, a freshman accountancy major, was elected as an ASB Senator for the housing committee.
Four ASB members had resigned prior to this senate due to potential conflicts they had with the upcoming elections, according to a statement by Attorney General Madison Waldrop sent out via an Instagram post. Each of the resignees’ conflicts are individual, and there is no blanket reason as to why they left their respective positions. Those members were ASB Secretary Caroline Croley, ASB President Chief of Staff OC Williford, Deputy Attorney General of Code and Constitution Ella Key and Deputy Attorney General of Elections Engagement Lucy Allen.
ASB Senate unanimously passed five bills concerning the ASB Code and Constitution. The bills focused on updating written policy with ASB practices and clarifying the language used within the code and constitution.
Two of the bills divided record-keeping roles, such as the historian and legislative aides, to ease the process of managing with ASB records.
The last piece of legislation passed was a senate proclamation, SP 26-1, formally expressing gratitude to every individual and organization who helped clean and repair the University of Mississippi, Oxford and Lafayette County after Winter Storm Fern.
“We just wanted to put out a big thank you to everybody (who has) helped … rebuild the Oxford community throughout Winter Storm Fern,” Chairman of the Committee of Athletics Jack Turrentine in his proclamation presentation. “(It includes a list) directly from the university of all the organizations that they wanted to make sure that we thank, and we tried to add on anything else that we can think of.”
